cramped deathwatch cell to tell me.
“You’ve got a visitor, Angel.”
I watched from my sheetless single bed as the door locks geared back and a habited nun entered my cell, eyes downcast, face veiled in shadow.
“Please leave us,” she whispered to the warden.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sister. This one’s a killer.”
She turned to him then, looked him in the eye. “Leave us.”
“Leave... ” he mumbled.
When he was gone, the door locked in place behind him, the nun turned to me and removed her coif and veil, and I found myself staring in shock at Coraline.
“Hello, lover.”
Even in the dark, I could see she was every bit as lovely as I remembered—lovelier. But there were differences; stark and disturbing ones. Always full-bodied and healthy-looking even during her heaviest periods of heroin abuse, she appeared angular and sickly thin; her skin a canvas stretched tight across a bone frame. Her dark lustrous hair, which she had obsessively styled to perfection when I knew her, was a tangled mane framing a face of almost luminescent whiteness. Perhaps worst of all, the eyes that had always seemed to brim with life now had a weary intensity, as if some greater knowledge of secrets dark and arcane had worn her soul thin.
“You’re dead. I read it in the paper.”
“You can’t believe everything you read, Mick.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t right. There was something off about her; something horrible and wrong. With the skittishness of a horse that scents a predator on the wind, I felt the sudden urge to bolt, but there was nowhere to go.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, pulling me close.
I expected the embrace to feel as fragile as she looked, but the narrow arms that corralled me felt like steel bands. I wanted to shove her away, but I resisted the temptation with the thought that any sign of fear might cause those awful arms to slam closed around me with the crushing force of a bear trap and never let go. When she finally released me I felt like a fly jounced from the web of an approaching spider.
I guess it showed on my face because she said, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see me, baby?”
She tried to pout then, but that was another thing that had changed. Coraline used to be a great pouter. World class. This was a sham. A fraud. As manufactured as a whore’s orgasm. The new Coraline was a million miles past this sort of silly schoolgirl manipulation.
“I just can’t believe you’re here,” I heard myself say.
“Of course I’m here. You don’t really think I’d let them put the man I love to death without coming to see him one last time, do you?”
“That what you came to tell me? That you still love me?”
“Partly. I’ve always loved you, Mick. A lot of things have changed for me, but not that. But I have another reason too.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You gave your life for me. I haven’t forgotten that. I came to repay the favor.”
“Yeah, and exactly how do you plan on doing that?”
“I can make it so they can’t kill you.”
“Let me guess—you have a stay of execution from the governor stashed in your brassiere.”
“Why don’t you check and see?” She took my hand and pressed it down the front of the habit. The joke was on me. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts were strangely cool to the touch, but considering I hadn’t had my hands within a hundred yards of a pair in three years I wasn’t of a mind to be particular about it. Not even in her present state.
“That’s not very nun-like of you.”
“I’m afraid I’m not a very good nun. In fact, I’m not a nun at all.”
“Yeah? What are ya then?”
Coraline transformed before my eyes. Her eyes grew black with blood and her fangs distended and her jaw unhinged. Nothing can prepare you for seeing the impossible; for the realization that the world is not what you thought it was. As I backed away in abject horror, I watched as her features melted back to
“You’ve got a visitor, Angel.”
I watched from my sheetless single bed as the door locks geared back and a habited nun entered my cell, eyes downcast, face veiled in shadow.
“Please leave us,” she whispered to the warden.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sister. This one’s a killer.”
She turned to him then, looked him in the eye. “Leave us.”
“Leave... ” he mumbled.
When he was gone, the door locked in place behind him, the nun turned to me and removed her coif and veil, and I found myself staring in shock at Coraline.
“Hello, lover.”
Even in the dark, I could see she was every bit as lovely as I remembered—lovelier. But there were differences; stark and disturbing ones. Always full-bodied and healthy-looking even during her heaviest periods of heroin abuse, she appeared angular and sickly thin; her skin a canvas stretched tight across a bone frame. Her dark lustrous hair, which she had obsessively styled to perfection when I knew her, was a tangled mane framing a face of almost luminescent whiteness. Perhaps worst of all, the eyes that had always seemed to brim with life now had a weary intensity, as if some greater knowledge of secrets dark and arcane had worn her soul thin.
“You’re dead. I read it in the paper.”
“You can’t believe everything you read, Mick.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t right. There was something off about her; something horrible and wrong. With the skittishness of a horse that scents a predator on the wind, I felt the sudden urge to bolt, but there was nowhere to go.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, pulling me close.
I expected the embrace to feel as fragile as she looked, but the narrow arms that corralled me felt like steel bands. I wanted to shove her away, but I resisted the temptation with the thought that any sign of fear might cause those awful arms to slam closed around me with the crushing force of a bear trap and never let go. When she finally released me I felt like a fly jounced from the web of an approaching spider.
I guess it showed on my face because she said, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see me, baby?”
She tried to pout then, but that was another thing that had changed. Coraline used to be a great pouter. World class. This was a sham. A fraud. As manufactured as a whore’s orgasm. The new Coraline was a million miles past this sort of silly schoolgirl manipulation.
“I just can’t believe you’re here,” I heard myself say.
“Of course I’m here. You don’t really think I’d let them put the man I love to death without coming to see him one last time, do you?”
“That what you came to tell me? That you still love me?”
“Partly. I’ve always loved you, Mick. A lot of things have changed for me, but not that. But I have another reason too.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You gave your life for me. I haven’t forgotten that. I came to repay the favor.”
“Yeah, and exactly how do you plan on doing that?”
“I can make it so they can’t kill you.”
“Let me guess—you have a stay of execution from the governor stashed in your brassiere.”
“Why don’t you check and see?” She took my hand and pressed it down the front of the habit. The joke was on me. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts were strangely cool to the touch, but considering I hadn’t had my hands within a hundred yards of a pair in three years I wasn’t of a mind to be particular about it. Not even in her present state.
“That’s not very nun-like of you.”
“I’m afraid I’m not a very good nun. In fact, I’m not a nun at all.”
“Yeah? What are ya then?”
Coraline transformed before my eyes. Her eyes grew black with blood and her fangs distended and her jaw unhinged. Nothing can prepare you for seeing the impossible; for the realization that the world is not what you thought it was. As I backed away in abject horror, I watched as her features melted back to
Similar Books
